Essay on The United States and North Korea Relation and current situation

Free 800 words essay on The United States and North Korea Relation and current situation ( USA vs North Korea ) for school and college students.

North Korea today is considered as a rogue nation that has crossed all boundaries of defiance, belligerence, and warmongering. The leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Un has upped the ante against the United States and is aggressively pursuing a madman strategy of developing murderous nuclear weapons and directly threatening its imaginative adversaries. In the latest development, it has successfully tested an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) that has the capacity of striking the mainland United States, enabling itself for a preemptive attack. North Korea has now upped the ante by testing a hydrogen bomb that has crossed all limits of tolerance. The US President Donald Trump has been bellicose with his threats of fire and fury, military escalation, live fire drills, and warlike sanctions. This hawkish policy is a major shift from Barack Obama administration’s strategic patience and sanction approach. A deadlock has been created in this confrontation where both sides refuse to budge and have kept the international community on its edge.

North Korea is a result of bifurcation of the Korean peninsula by the 38th parallel in the peak of the cold war. South Korea came under the influence and military protection of the United States thereby establishing a democratic government, whereas North Korea remained under Communist dictatorship, and is still considered as one of the most backward nations of the world. North Korea in the 1970s began testing the Soviet scud-missiles. There was a thaw in its relations with the US, and it declared a moratorium on long-range missile tests. Later North Korean demands for $1 billion to halt missile policy was rejected for being unwarranted. After the 9/11 attacks, the US policy of ‘war on terror’ under President George W. Bush, was highly pugnacious.

Pyongyang ended the moratorium and conducted the first underground nuclear test 2006. By the year 2012, North Korea was capable of launching a multi-stage rocket and placing an Earth-observational satellite at the orbit. By the year 2016, it had already tested submarine-launched ballistic missile. These developments were unprecedented and unfathomable for the world leaders. North Korea continued to make advancements in its military stance even as the United Nations Security Council kept on slapping tough sanctions against the rogue regime.

This brings us to the question that why North Korea is pursuing such self-destructive and jingoistic military approach even as most of its population lives in extreme poverty. Besides, it is also one of the world’s most oppressed regimes with callous rules and distorted human rights. Citizens here are bound to patronize the leader Kim Jong-un, any dissent is seen as jeopardy inviting dangerous punishments. Such bizarre regime was already under the international scrutiny. North Korea fears invasion especially from the United States which is a staunch ally of South Korea and Japan. There are thousands of American troops in both these countries with a permanent aircraft carrier army base in Guam, an island in the Pacific. Kim Jong-Un doesn’t want a fate like Saddam Hussein or Muammar Qaddafi, as both Iraq and Libya were not capable of defending themselves against US invasion. Hence, he like an astute dictator first wants to develop an ICBM capable of directly threatening the US, and thereby ensure its own security.

The US has already placed Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles in South Korea and conducts regular live-drills and military exercises near the armistice border of the Korean peninsula. China being the lone ally of North Korea holds great stakes in this issue. They detest the idea of the collapse of the poor country as it would result in catastrophic mass movement of refugees towards the Chinese border. Reunification of Korea would mean a robust US ally at its doorstep with military presence of world’s most powerful army. This proposition is abhorrent to China and hence it calls for a peaceful and diplomatic solution. Although the members of Security Council have approved harsh sanctions, the crippling economic of North Korea continues to test missiles with perilous defiance.

Donald Trump himself hasn’t been consistent and clear with his message while dealing with the North Korean crisis. He has kept shifting blames to either his predecessors or China. In fact, he recently accused South Korea of being less harsh and of appeasement. Such confrontational and antagonistic attitude is escalating warlike scenarios. Although several political observers are assuring the North Korean regime is using these tactics more for political gains than actual military showdown, this tense international environment is a threat to peace and tranquility. De-escalation of war rhetoric, forcing North Korea to come to the negotiating table, greater involvement of the mediators in pacifying the situation, and complete disarmament, in the long run, can be the only solution to this issue. War should never be an option, as the amount of death and destruction along with economic annihilation would be senseless and retrograde.